Tim Tebow breaks hand, likely won’t play for Las Vegas 51s

Mets Double-A prospect Tim Tebow broke a bone in his hand, likely ending his season.

Tebow, who broke his hamate bone swinging a bat, is slated to have surgery Tuesday.

This ends any likelihood that the former Heisman Trophy winner would suit up for the 51s.

The 30-year-old outfielder, who returned to baseball in 2016 after a prolific college football career at Florida and short NFL career, was hitting .273 at Double-A and was recently named an Eastern League All-Star. Though his strikeout rates were high, there was a chance he could have been considered for a promotion to Triple-A Las Vegas later in the season.

The injury dashes any hope of that and by the time Tebow is healthy, the Mets will have switched their Triple-A affiliation to Syracuse.

He has six home runs and 36 RBIs in 84 games for Binghamton, hitting .301 in June for the Rumble Ponies and .340 in 15 games in July.

“It’s about a six-to-eight week recovery, so effectively his season is over,” Mets assistant general manager John Ricco said after Tebow was examined Monday at the Hospital for Special Surgery. “I view this season as a complete positive,” Ricco said. “Obviously it ends disappointingly. He’s going to miss the last month, month-plus.

“But to see a guy who in a couple short years is now competing at the Double-A level and thriving, really — the last couple months he was playing really well, so I don’t think how that could be anything but a positive.”

Tebow played in seven games for the Mets in spring training, going 1 for 18 (.056) before returning to the minor league camp.

Tebow signed with Mets in late 2016 and played in the Arizona Fall League. Last year, Tebow hit .226 with eight homers and 52 RBIs in 126 games at two levels of Class A.

A two-time national champion at Florida, Tebow works as a college football analyst on the SEC Network.

The 2007 Heisman winner will be inducted into Florida’s ring of honor, becoming the sixth player to receive the honor. His name will be unveiled on a wall inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium when the Gators host LSU on Oct. 6.

Tebow went 35-6 in four seasons (2006-09) at Florida, finishing with an SEC-record 170.8 career pass efficiency rating. He left college with 28 school records, 14 conference marks and five NCAA records.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.